Groundhog Day 2014

This morning I spent many minutes putting on  my boots. It's another one of those daunting tasks that I don't perform anymore unless absolutely necessary. It was necessary. You see, today is Groundhog Day. That means, the North American world is alert to the fact that a rodent will be predicting the upcoming weather. I decided that I wouldn't count on Wiarton Willie, Punxsutawney Phil, Winnipeg Willow or Shubenacadie Sam to decide my fate. After all, what do they know about weather in this town? 

Instead, I checked with Cobourg Calhoon. Here's his story.

After digging his way out of the snow and today's new layer of ice, Calhoon suffered a slight whisker injury. Being a consummate professional, he soldiered on.

He moved rapidly from under the shelter of a tree to a location where he could more clearly determine whether or not there was a shadow.

 

He saw none. On the other hand, he thought, "How can any northern hemisphere groundhog see his shadow at 8 a.m.?" After looking at his surroundings and wondering how he would survive in this while living outside of his burrow, he decided, to turn tail, shadow or not. The prediction therefore is still, six more weeks of winter.

The lesson learned from this story? Given the choice of staying outside in the current conditions or inside, the groundhog finds six more weeks of this...life in a dark hole to be preferable.